John Halderman writes about personal growth and online marketing , helping people take command of their income, personal growth and wellness. He is also on Twitter

Real time web is evolving quickly and being offered in more and more places. As we all experience how everything is moving faster and faster communication on the web gets quicker. At one time, long ago, we thought email and RSS feeds were an efficient way to get information out there, but now there is the speed of Twitter. How will this increased speed help your social networking and marketing is the question?

Frederic Lardinois, in his post “Five Sites that Let You Experience the Real-Time Web Today” details some of the fast, near real time communication sites operating today. The question becomes, do you really need communication to be this fast? Does it have a purpose? Or is it all just an example of creative oneupmanship, where we keep going faster just because we can.

Is the speed of communication holding you down? Or do you just find it hard to keep up with now? Have you been upset with RSS feeds only updating about every hour? If you have, Notifizious may just be what you are looking for.

As we see on Twitter, there seem to be two general uses, one of holding conversations which is essentially a chat. And the other of posting messages, which the speed of delivery is usually not so critical.

For those who have a need for fast, or just want it because it’s there:

* Notifixious is a very new service and still has limitations where it can be used, but if you want it fast -might see if you can give it a try.

* Monitter is interesting – quite addictive. You can set any keywords you want to follow on Twitter and it pulls them all in for you. You choose, a tool or a distraction!

* And for those who have stayed away from Facebook because it’s too slow on the update- coming soon, real time updates of users news feeds.

As with everything, these are tools that we each choose how to use for ourselves, so it is us alone that must ask the important questions;

* Do we have a need to receive immediate information?
* Do we have a need to transfer information out immediately?
* Does a given service offer the speed that supports it’s use, or
* Does the increased speed open up new uses?
* How much time should I spend in front of it?

As with any service, I think these communication services will eventually get a thumbs up or down from the online world depending on their usefulness. I must admit, all these new faster services are real neat, but they can be addictive ending up consuming more of our time rather than saving it. I suggest, don’t get involved just because it’s there, rather choose the communication methods that best serve your needs.

John Halderman writes about personal growth and online marketing , helping people take command of their income, personal growth and wellness. He is also on Twitter

Many have foundTwitter to be a great place to get linked to many people, and many see it as a promotional wonderland. “WooHoo, look at all those people I can hit with my promotions”

Well, yes . . . and no. Let’s pull back on the reigns just a little ‘Roy Rogers’! Twitter is fast becoming a place where you can gain lots, read thousands, of people you can contact and to a good aggressive marketer, a virtual gold mine. However it doesn’t work that way, at least that’s how most Twitter users see it.

Now you can certainly jump in to Twitter and plaster your latest promotion all about with reckless abandon, but guess what? You will rapidly find a lot of ‘no follows’ – that’s unpopular in Twittereze. The reason for this is that nature of the community. Just like in ‘real life’ every community has a personality that basically dictates normal behavior. Now, like this or not, the Twitter community has sort of established itself already.

For most Twitterers, there is a balance, a fine line between promotion and socializing. Twitter has become a place to socialize and get to know people . . . and recommend. Just like any aspect of life, there is a fine line between the two major aspects of Twitter, socialization and promoting. Twitter is a place where you can get to know people of all sorts, even individual ‘big’ in an industry are there rubbing shoulders with everybody.

This is a place where you can Twit a business leader who would be otherwise difficult to contact, and where they are quite likely to respond. But . . . but as long as you are being social about it, not sales-ey! Here’s the thing, if you spend some time getting familiar with people and they you in a casual way, they will not see you as intimidating or risky to interact with. Realize that many top level people in any business get approached often by people who want something from them – don’t be that guy! Rather, have a simple question for them, or offer help or even just a comment on something that they posted.

When you do post, Tweet, in a promotional manner, make it more suggestive or helpful, not – “Hey Buy My Stuff”. Yes, you will see some of this that doesn’t make it acceptable to most. Not sure, try this – ask other Twitterers what they think about it. Just as in any marketing efforts, it’s better to gain trust, familiarity and respect from people before asking them for money. It’s important to remember that business is about relationship building. This is important with both potential customers as well as partners or joint venture partners.

So, about the fine line, the balance, many are now automatically Tweeting their blog posts and articles, which is fine, but don’t let that be all that you do there. Have a social presence as well. Sure, recommend something, but offer to help, answer a question, and just be social. You will find that with the Twitter community you will be well accepted and welcomed, people will become more interested in you and what you do. Isn’t that better in the long run than just pimping a product?

Balance on the fine line – Twit away!

John Halderman

Yisel Guajardo is an entrepreneur who writes about internet marketing, social media, and blogging. She authors the blog Advanced Income. You can also follow her on Twitter.

There are lots of tools or “twools” that can save you time on Twitter.

Here is a list of 5 automated tools that are meant specifically to save you time when it comes to managing friends and/or tweets. Some have unique features while others overlap. I’ve left off any desktop or mobile applications that let you tweet away from Twitter like Tweetdeck or Twhirl since the following tools complement them or can be used standalone.

1. SocialToo.com

This is the ultimate set it and forget tool. Once it’s setup it follows those that follow you and also unfollows those that unfollow you. It also lets you send an automated direct message to new followers. Another feature is that you can get a daily email message that shows you who followed or unfollowed you and the last Tweet you sent out when it happened.

2. Twittertise.com

This service lets you time delay or future post your tweets (post at a specific time and day you set). What’s cool is that it has built in tracking capabilities so you can measure the effectiveness of the links on your tweeets.

Although their site says “allows you to advertise on Twitter and track the success of branded communications with your customers”, it’s really just a simple no frills way of seeing how many clicks your tweets get. So even though you don’t advertise on twitter, and I recommend you don’t do any blatant advertising anyway, it provides some valuable feedback to you about which tweets are more effective or generate the most response.

3. TwitterMail.com

TwitterMail is for people who find it more convenient to tweet via email. When you sign up you get a TwitterMail email address and whenever you want to tweet you send an email to that address and it will be automatically posted to Twitter. Plus, it has some added features like sending photos to Twitter and future tweeting.

4. PostLater.com

If you have several blogs or Twitter accounts, PostLater lets you, well, uh…post later. You can schedule posts on multiple blogging platforms as well as microblogging platforms like Twitter. Plus they also support scheduling entries for FriendFeed and scheduling recurring entries.

5. Tweetlater .com

Tweetlater has features of both SocialToo and PostLater. You can schedule future tweets, send automated direct messages to followers and also auto-follow new followers.

Another tool worth mentioning that’s gaining popularity is Tweepler. It’s actually become my favorite because rather than automatically following new followers you can easily see in groups or buckets who you want to follow and who you don’t. It lets you keep control by letting YOU decide in a very fast and efficient way.

There you have it, the top automated time saving Twitter tools based on traffic ranking per Alexa.

Which are your favorite time-saving Twitter tools?  Any that didn’t make the list?

Image source: sxc.hu